3 days ago
At least 115 die in Nigeria floods as rescue efforts continue
More than 100 people have died and several others remain missing after a torrential downpour in the central Nigerian state of Niger, local authorities said on Friday.
Floods submerged the town of Mokwa after the rains began on Wednesday night and continued till Thursday morning. Ibrahim Audu Hussein, spokesperson for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said rescue efforts were still under way on Friday.
'We have so far recovered 115 bodies and more are expected to be recovered because the flood came from far distance and washed people into the River Niger. Downstream, bodies are still being recovered,' Husseini told the AFP news agency. 'So, the toll keeps rising'.
More than 3,000 houses have also been submerged, he added.
Mokwa, a commercial town 376 kilometres (233 miles) west of Nigeria's capital Abuja, is a known commercial hub in the state with many traders and heavy duty vehicles often carrying goods to other regions in the country.
In Nigeria, the rainy season usually runs from April to October. In a forecast issued on Wednesday by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, heavy storms were predicted for Abuja and 14 of the country's 36 states including Niger.
Niger, Nigeria's largest state by landmass, is home to three of the country's major dams – Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro – which contribute significantly to the country's electricity grid. A fourth dam is under construction.
The state has been prone to flooding in recent times; in April, water released from one of the dams destroyed more than 5,000 farms in 30 communities including in Mokwa. Local news reports suggested that it was the sixth time a flood had happened in the state this year.
In 2022, Nigeria experienced floods which killed more than 600 people, displaced about 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland. Experts have warned of more extreme climate weather patterns due to continued global heating.
Last year, the collapse of a dam 20 kilometres (12 miles) outside the north-eastern town of Maiduguri killed at least 30 people, displaced thousands of people and led to crocodiles and snakes being washed away from the city zoo into its environs. Nigerian authorities said it was part of the country's worst flooding in decades, as 1200 people in all died across 21 states.
